


Drift Away

by party_like_its_1899



Category: Newsies - All Media Types, Original Work
Genre: newsies oc
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:15:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28052289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/party_like_its_1899/pseuds/party_like_its_1899
Summary: Syd, Bruiser and Mush were the trio of trouble for the last three years but now... Something seems different as Syd and Mush enter high school...





	1. Chapter 1- Watching him drift away

**Author's Note:**

> Long time no see 😂 as per usual not all the characters belong to me!!   
> Syd belongs to me, Bruiser belongs to my brother @thatsmycigarbutyoucanborrowit on Tumblr and Mush is part of the original newsies!! 
> 
> Enjoy this little modern au I've been planning for awhile!!

It was the summer before Syd and Mush joined Bruiser in highschool. Bruiser would be in his sophomore year by the time September rolled around, Syd and Mush being freshmen. The three were sitting out in the park on a July afternoon. It was unusually sunny in Boston with a slight breeze, the footsteps and quiet voices from people around filled the air.   
“You two excited for highschool?” Bruiser asked with a chuckle   
“As long as I can keep my last name quiet I’ll be fine! And if I just stick with you two-” Syd said, nervously fidgeting with their ring.  
“Mush and I got your back! Right M?”   
Bruiser nudged him, startling him into looking up from his phone.  
“O-oh uh yeah…! What Bruiser said!” He said quickly, trying to act like he was listening.   
“Cmon! Put your phone away ya dork! We’re outside!!” Syd teased  
Syd had been crushing on Mush for as long as they’ve known him. So since about 5th grade. Bruiser knew that and relentlessly teased them about it once Mush wasn’t around. But as far as Syd knew they didn’t have a chance with him. It had been three years and they’ve still stayed stuck in the friendzone. Lately though, Mush seemed...different. He had been hanging out with Syd and Bruiser less and less since March after he met a few new guys. Some kids named Blink, Specs, and Racetrack. They knew Race from theater his name was Anthony if they remember right. He seemed nice enough, though it was hard to tell since he was the always stressed dance captain.  
Syd and Bruiser were talking about what high school would be like, and Bruiser was warning them about teachers to be careful of and whos good with LGBT students since Syd was nonbinary and pan. Mush was half-listening when his phone buzzed, he looked down at it and smiled before forcing it down as he looked back at the other two.  
“Hey I uh gotta head out, something came up but um...we’ll hang later, promise!” Mush said quickly   
“Oh, see ya!” Syd said with a kind smile  
Bruiser waved him off with a salute. Not totally trusting the “something came up” excuse that he was using. He knew something was up but he didn’t want Syd to feel weird about mush or anything like that so he kept his mouth shut.   
The two spent the rest of the afternoon and a good portion of the evening walking through Boston and talking. The only reason Syd was even able to be out this late was that their parents had some big event out in Chicago and a ton of Tv interviews out there so they’d be gone for a while, and they took Hazel with them which was a blessing. Even though the Revere Mansion was lonely when it was just Syd they didn’t mind it, it was a nice change of pace and they had the freedom to do whatever they wanted when they wanted to do it. And Bruiser stayed with them a lot so it wasn’t completely lonely.   
Bruiser walked them back home and every now and then Syd would check their phone.  
“It’s weird, Mush hasn’t texted yet. Usually, he would by now. He always texts the group chat apologizing for bailing on us.” Syd sighed, putting their phone back into their pocket.  
“Well he did say something came up, maybe it was something serious and he just got busy…?” Bruiser suggested  
Syd shrugs “Probably. I’ll text him in a bit and make sure he’s alright!”  
Bruiser brought them to the front door and waved goodbye as they went back inside. He shook his head a little as he walked away.   
“Something is up with Mush, there has to be something hes not saying.” Bruiser thinks to himself

Syd flopped back onto their bed and opened up their texts to Mush.

{Hey! Hope everything is okay!! No worries about having to bail today! You didn’t miss much! :p If you need anything feel free to text me!} 

They sat waiting for his response.

2 minutes. [Delivered]

10 minutes. [Delivered]

30 minutes. [Delivered]

1 hour. [Delivered]

2 and a half hours later. [*Read*]

3 hours later, still just left on read. 

Syd decided to let it be and quickly texted Bruiser that they were going to bed and to call them if he needed anything. They plugged in their phone and quickly changed into pj’s and curled up under the blankets. The night came and went and Syd woke up around 8 am as per usual. They checked their phone and the only text they had was simply Bruiser texting {Good night!} 

They don’t think much of it since Mush had a habit of forgetting to reply to texts if they texted at night. They open up the group chat.

{You guys down to hang out today? Same place as yesterday?} Syd sends

Bruiser agreed to go and again, Mush read the text but never responded. 

This went on for weeks, Mush only hanging out once or twice since the day in July. August came and went in the blink of an eye and before the three knew it, the first day of highschool was 3 days away. The day all three had probably been dreading since school had let out in June.


	2. What did I do so wrong

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I kinda messed up the first time, I finally decided the time period and the story begins in 1988 and will end around 1991-92!!

The last three days of summer came and went like they never even happened. Syd didn’t even sleep the night before, panicking about the new year ahead. They hoped Mush would be back to how he was before he seemingly ditched Syd and B, but they weren’t getting their hopes up. Bruiser had tried to see what had gotten into him but he too had no luck.   
Hazel had gone to some stuffy all-girls private school for the last year she was in high school so Syd got to be freed from having to walk to school with her every morning. And she didn’t have to worry about Hazel barging into their room to make something up just so Syd would get in trouble.   
Syd was still in bed, they had an hour or so before they had to leave. Their parents were out at some event in Manhattan for the week so once more Syd was alone. They reached over and grabbed their phone as they heard it ring.

{You up yet? Don’t wanna be late on the first day крошка!! We still walking together right?} came Bruisers voice form the other end

He didn’t totally know how to stop talking when he started, so Syd let him finish

{Any clue if Meyers is tagging along? He isn’t responding to any of my calls}

Syd sighed, realizing things probably aren’t changing with Mush.

{Yeah, im up and we are walking together and unfortunately, I haven’t heard a word out of Mush since July.}

Syd was rather upset with Mush, he’d practically abandoned them both without so much as a slight warning! But they couldn’t focus on that now, they had new opportunities and so what if Mush didn’t want to be around them and Bruiser, he didn’t deserve them anyway!

...right?

Syd pulled themselves out of bed and quickly changed, swapping their pajamas for a more dark outfit, topped with an ACDC t-shirt they had “borrowed” from Bruiser a few months ago. They were tying their boots when they heard the knock at the door. They quickly finished and threw their bag over their shoulder and quickly went to the door.   
They smile seeing the familiar face of Bruiser standing there, all the worry with Mush was put aside for now.   
“You ready to go?” He asked with a smile   
Syd took a breath “as ready as I can be-”  
The walk was uneventful to say the very least, the only thing that really happened was a spike in Syd’s anxiety as the highschool came into view. Bruiser noticed and put his arm around them.  
“You got this крошка, I’m sure of it.”

The most that happened in the first half of the day was Syd got lost a few times trying to get to class. Luckily Syd had lunch with Bruiser so they’d be fine, at least that’s what they thought. Syd met up with Bruiser at his locker and they were walking to the cafeteria when they heard a familiar voice.  
“-totally ditched them most of the summer. It’s not like they were fun to hang out with anyways” Came Mush’s voice with a laugh, which was then followed by the rest of the little crowd he had laughed at as well.  
Syd felt as if they had been hit right in the heart, the look on their face must have said a thousand words, as the second Mush spotted them he went pale.   
“You...You could have just told us you didn’t want to hang out.” Syd stammers, their voice breaking a little “We would have understood...Honest, we would have…”  
Mush snapped out of his embarrassment and a smirk came across his face, a forced one but it looked real. He rolls his eyes.  
“Whatever Morosov, don’t you have some Softball thing to do?”   
At least he had some humanity left and didn’t use their real last name. It still didn’t numb the hurt. They felt their eyes sting with tears.   
“I don’t even care anymore. Just don’t talk to me again!! Lose my number!” Syd nearly yelled before storming off, pushing through the small crowd of boys in front of them.  
“Oh now you’ve done it,” Bruiser said, his voice turning into a growl as his glare fixated on Mush.  
He shoves past the crowd and rushed after Syd. He found them sitting against the wall of an empty hallway. Their face buried in their hands and their whole being shaking. Bruiser sat next to them and carefully put his arm around them, waiting for a reaction. Syd tensed at the touch for a split second before recognizing it and nearly tackling Bruiser into a hug. Bruiser pulled them close.  
“We were supposed to get through high school together..all three of us…” They say, their voice shaking and breaking at points  
“I know Kid, I know...but screw him, if he can’t see how amazing you are he doesn’t deserve you..”  
Syd was quiet for a couple of minutes before they took a shaking breath and spoke again.   
“I wanna run away...run far to Brooklyn! Maybe Manhattan”  
Bruiser was shocked at their words but he nodded as he listened quietly.  
“I’ll make you a deal okay? You make it to Junior year and you still want to go to Brooklyn, we’ll go together,” Bruiser said comfortingly  
“You promise you won’t let me go alone?”  
Bruiser nods “You have my word, and you know I would never break that, especially for you”  
A shaky smile came to Syd’s face before they buried their face into his shoulder. Bruiser softly swayed with them to calm them down, as he’d done since the first time he had to calm them down back when they were a 6th grader.


End file.
